[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4581666ec2f1bbb5efd2d91a412cbdea.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:''Hidden so deep in veils of deceit''\\''Imprisoned in twisting spells''\\''Are we the plaything of fiends''\\''Or merely the dreams''\\''That we're telling ourselves?'']]

->''"Our world is dying. Once thriving populations now lie decimated by plague and disease.''\\''...The end has never felt so close."''-->-- '''OpeningMonologue'''

''Nier'' (alternately rendered ''[=NieR=]'' or ''NIER'') is an [[ActionRPG action]]/[[EasternRPG role-playing]] game developed by Cavia and published by Creator/SquareEnix, released in 2010 for the UsefulNotes/{{PS3}} and UsefulNotes/XBox360.

Over 1000 years after a [[DepopulationBomb great calamity nearly wiped out the human race]], those remaining survive as best they can, robbed of resources and technology. Yet the already dwindling population is again under threat from Black Scrawl, a disease that seems to be connected with the malevolent creatures known as [[TheHeartless Shades]]. One of the victims is a little girl named Yonah. This is where it gets a bit complicated...

There are two versions of the game, ''Gestalt'' and ''Replicant'', and each has a slightly different protagonist. Both are named [[CharacterTitle Nier]], but the former is a [[TheBigGuy burly middle-aged man]] who is Yonah's [[KnightTemplarParent father]], whereas the latter is a [[{{Bishounen}} slender adolescent]] who is Yonah's [[KnightTemplarBigBrother elder brother]]. Though everything else remains the same, the age gap between the two Niers produces a different context for the story, with the [[KnightInSourArmor world-weary]] Father Nier contrasting sharply with his younger, foolishly-optimistic counterpart. ''Gestalt'' was released worldwide, but ''Replicant'' is [[NoExportForYou Japan exclusive]]. It should be noted that in Japan, ''Replicant'' is treated as the official version, as it was the original and only version planned until the Occidental branch of Square Enix requested an older and more muscular lead for an alternate version.

Nier survives by hunting Shades and relying on the charity of his village, but he is powerless to help Yonah. However, after a chance encounter with a [[SnarkyNonHumanSidekick talking]] SpellBook named Grimoire Weiss, Nier discovers that there may be a cure after all and immediately sets out on a quest to find it, using his newfound BlackMagic to cut down anything in his way. During his travels he is also joined by a [[{{Stripperiffic}} scantily-clad]], [[SirSwearsalot foul-mouthed]] [[ActionGirl swordswoman]] named Kainé, and Emil, a [[TheHeart lonely young boy]] with [[BadPowersGoodPeople terrible powers]].

Gameplay is a combination of traditional HackAndSlash combined with various other {{RPG}} elements thrown in. The story is closely related to ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'', following directly from Ending E. As with its predecessor, this game gets very depressing at points.

Oh, and play it more than once. It has secrets that are revealed after the first play-through. Many secrets.

A DLC package called ''The World of Recycled Vessel'' was released May 2010 that included various bonuses. The plot revolves around the death of Nier's wife[=/=]mother and the cryptic diary entries she left behind.

A sequel, titled ''Videogame/NierAutomata'', was released for PS4 and PC in March 2017.

----!!Tropes:

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[[folder: #-F]]* HundredPercentCompletion: Finishing the story mode, obtaining all the weapons and three of the four endings will get you the final ending [[spoiler:which deletes your save file.]]* TwentyBearAsses: The vast majority of the sidequests require you to obtain various items and fetch them for the requester. You can mess with it in some cases where you can just ''buy'' some of the items from a vendor, but in general there's not always much of a tangible reward for some of the sidequests. Certain sidequests, however, have significant rewards, like unlocking your farm (one of the only consistent sources of revenue in the game).* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: You can curb-stomp most mooks and bosses at level 25. Level cap is 99.* AddressingThePlayer: You can call Nier whatever you like at the start of the game, so he is never referred to directly, but [[spoiler:you will need to enter the name you gave him]] to advance in the ending.* AdultFear: The whole idea of your daughter/baby sister being terminally ill and seemingly having no way to save her, when it's already hard enough to make ends meet.* AfterTheEnd: While life did get better for a short time after the first disaster reduced it to a WorldHalfEmpty, it is implied that sooner or later humans will die out altogether.** Well, humans [[spoiler:(the Shades)]] are trying their best to prevent it [[spoiler:by stealing the bodies of all the Replicants.]]* AIIsACrapshoot: On the one hand, Defense System Geppetto, which has gone berserk and will kill anything that approaches. On the other, Military Defense Unit P-33, [[spoiler:aka "Beepy"]], who is intelligent enough to [[spoiler:recognize invaders that need to be killed as well as innocents who need to be protected]].* AlienSky: A very subtle example. There is constant daylight, but you cannot see the Sun anywhere in the sky. ''Grimoire Nier'' explains that the cataclysm also caused the planet's axis to tilt towards the Sun. Presumably the game takes place along the equator where the temperature is tolerable.* AllJustADream: The entire opening battle sequence is described as being either a dream or a distant memory. Eventually, the player can learn that [[spoiler:it did actually happen, but not with the people you've known throughout the game]].* AllThereInTheManual: Almost the entire backstory of ''Nier'', such as where the Black Scrawl came from, how it ties into ''Drakengard'', the names of the Shades, weapon history, and what happened to the world, is in the [[NoExportForYou Japan-exclusive]] ''Grimoire Nier'' [[UniverseCompendium resource book]]. Fortunately, it has been (mostly) [[https://docs.google.com/View?id=dgvmkf89_228fxgghgg3 translated into English by fans]].* AlreadyUndoneForYou: The Junkheap. Nier and Weiss go in looking for Jacob and Gideon's mother, but there's no way she could have gotten through with all those barriers and mechanisms still up. An exasperated Weiss even hangs a lampshade on this. Turns out, [[spoiler:she had taken the back elevator which led directly from a separate room on the surface to the chamber adjacent to Defense System Gepetto's, and was killed there.]]** Similarly, the Barren Temple will test Nier with a new BlockPuzzle in every room, and then it turns out [[spoiler:the Prince had already made it to the innermost sanctum without incident]]. Perhaps the Temple resets itself for every new challenger?* AlternateContinuity: Of ''Drakengard'''s fifth ending.* AlwaysChaoticEvil: This is what the people of Nier's world believe Shades to be, which is why they live in fear of them and will annihilate every last one if given the chance. The truth is far more complicated than that: [[spoiler:only ''severely'' relapsed Shades become hostile, but since they've lost all trace of sentience then it's doubtful "evil" even applies any more]].* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: The younger Nier was the original concept, but the people in charge of localisation decided that he didn't fit the fighting style, so they made him older and more macho. However this version didn't test so well with its native audience, and the director was so fond of the younger design that he decided to find a way to include him, which ended with giving him his own game. [[http://www.siliconera.com/2010/05/20/barbarian-nier-was-born-in-los-angeles/ See here]].** It would seem that in Japan, ''Replicant'' is considered the true version of the game, since ''Grimoire Nier'' deals mainly with the younger character.* AndIMustScream: Heavily implied in [[spoiler:Replicant Yonah's case, when Gestalt Yonah takes over her body and claims to hear another girl inside her. In Gestalt Yonah's own words, that other girl would only keep crying and calling for her dad/brother,]] which presumably was all she could do all during the five-year TimeSkip.* AntagonistTitle: ''Nier Gestalt''* ApocalypticLog: The reports concerning the Gestalt project, the situation in Shinjuku, White Chlorination Syndrome etc. that appear in the Now Loading screens and ''Grimoire''. Aside from [[spoiler:the Twins]], it's safe to assume the scientists who wrote them are either long dead or [[spoiler:turned into Shades]].** The diary in ''Recycled Vessel'' plays a similar role.* AreYouSureYouWantToDoThat: The game asks you this multiple times if you elect to [[spoiler: save Kainé.]]* ArtificialHuman: [[spoiler:Replicants, which cannot reproduce and thus are recreated entirely from the data of a Gestalt to serve as its future vessel]]. In addition, [[spoiler:Devola and Popola]] straddle the line between this and RidiculouslyHumanRobots -- both they and the in-game Project Gestalt refer to them as soulless "androids" and they can only mimic emotion, not feel it; but by the end, they can feel grief, rage, and despair, and can even cry.* AttackItsWeakPoint: Lampshaded by Weiss when fighting Defense System Gepetto.--> '''Weiss''': "Really, the mouth? Such an obvious weak point!"* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: The Knave of Hearts, a colossal Shade that attacks Nier's village, and Hook, the giant lizard Shade that attacks the Aerie (and killed [[spoiler:Kainé's grandmother]].)* AutobotsRockOut: Some of ''The World of Recycled Vessel'' soundtrack, "Blu-Bird" in particular.* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Tyrann,]] the Shade possessing Kainé. Grimoire Rubrum can only be described as ''damn freaking batshit insane''.* AwardBaitSong: [[https://youtu.be/Ce3hVo9VMhg "Ashes of Dreams"]], a major tearjerker example based on Yonah's theme.* BadPowersGoodPeople: The whole main cast pretty much. Nier chooses to use Black Magic for a greater purpose, Emil refuses to unleash his petrification powers, and Kainé doesn't have much choice in the matter. * BalefulPolymorph: It's revealed that the [[spoiler:Grimoires (including Weiss) were originally humans who learned magic and were turned into books by the Gestalt Project, to ensure the operation would succeed. Never mind that they were drugged and forced to fight to the death against their will...]]* BatmanGambit: Once the Shadowlord plays his hand [[spoiler:Devola and Popola are forced to take action, giving Nier clues that they KNOW will cause him to fulfil their intended role for him]].* BeamOWar: Emil vs Wendy.* BetterThanABareBulb: This game is absolutely littered with lampshades and loves pointing out details we take for granted in many games.* {{BFS}}: Nier's default weapon. In fact, most of Nier's weapons, particularly the two-handed swords.** Special mention goes Iron Will, which [[ContinuityNod may very well be]] Hymir's Finger from ''Drakengard''. When fully upgraded, ''it clips through the ground'' even with Nier standing up at his full height. The description says that it gets heavier after each blow due to the blood and flesh clinging on it.* BigBad: There IS no BigBad. Just two NotSoDifferent {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s with identical motivations but whose objectives directly clash with one another. The closest thing to a Big Bad is in the backstory and THAT was wiped out centuries earlier.* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:The Masked King and his entourage]] at the Shadowlord's castle.* BiggerOnTheInside: The Shadowlord's Castle, which is several times larger than the roof of the Lost Shrine that leads to it. [[spoiler:The view of a metropolitan skyline, the looping gate with the garden and the Gate Guardians, and the several unrelated areas visited inside the "castle" suggest some sort of teleportation involved]].* BirdsOfAFeather: Of a non-romantic kind. Kainé, cast out from her village due to her condition, and Emil, who lives in total isolation due to his [[BadPowersGoodPeople terrifying nature]]. Kainé immediately saw a kindred soul in him and constantly encourages him to be proud of who he is.* {{Bishonen}}: Young Nier, Emil, and the King of Façade.* BittersweetEnding: Endings A and B. [[spoiler:D may actually count as a DownerEnding, however, ''Grimoire Nier'' states that after Ending D, an Ending E happens, and Nier is reunited with Kainé once more, now fully alive but transformed into a little boy. It's kind of an EarnYourHappyEnding, quite surprising, coming from Cavia.]]* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The Aerie, which is comprised of many tiny, round houses dotted over a sheer cliff face, connected by huge bridges and ladders. Also Façade, which is built almost entirely of stairs and is impossible to navigate unless you take the sand boat.-->'''Nier''': [[LampshadeHanging "Who the hell designed this place?"]]* BlackSpeech: Shades tend to murmur in some unintelligible, mixed up language when you kill them, which can be pretty discomforting. [[spoiler:That is until you finish the game. Then you can actually understand them.]] ** Their written text is also identical to that of [[spoiler:the Watchers]] in ''Drakengard''.* BladeBelowTheShoulder: A certain type of Shade possess [[DropTheHammer giant hammers]] in place of arms.* BladeOnAStick: Nier can use lances in battle. This also seems to be a WeaponOfChoice for the people of Façade.* BleakLevel: The mansion on the hill. Your camera even picks up grime.* BlockPuzzle: Often used so Nier can jump onto higher platforms, or to go around obstacles he can't jump over. Even in the mail room. The most epic example takes place in the Barren Temple, where he must use blocks to create safe paths across cannon-filled rooms.* BloodKnight: Kainé particularly, thanks to Tyrann. Nier may have a similar side to him.** Nier himself is a literal blood knight by choice. At one point Weiss states that absorbing the Shades' blood is what allows him to access the forgotten Words. Nier promptly states genocide as the most logical path to saving Yonah.* BloodMagic: Of a kind. Shades, despite looking semi-corporeal, bleed quite red blood which is then absorbed by Grimoire Weiss and has a chance of granting him new spells. As he puts it, "Blood is sound, sound is words, and words ''are power!''"* BookEnds: [[TearJerker Ending B]]. At the beginning of the game, Yonah tries to share a cookie she found with Nier, insisting that he should eat. During Ending B, [[spoiler:Gestalt Nier, alone in an endless white expanse, hallucinates about himself and Yonah hiding out in the grocery store. When he comes out of it, the real Gestalt Yonah joins him and [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming gives him his half of the cookie]]]].** The last thing the player does in endings A and D is type what they have called the protagonist.* BodyHorror: The Black Scrawl. Excruciating black symbols appear all over your skin as your body disintegrates and [[spoiler:you turn into a Shade]].* BrainwashedAndCrazy: [[spoiler:Weiss]] starts acting like this when Grimoire Noir tries to remind him of their original purpose to serve the Shadowlord... at least until Kainé's profanity snaps him out of it.* BrainwashResidue: Nier decides to save Kainé [[spoiler:at the cost of his own existence]] in the final ending. When she comes to, she finds [[spoiler:the flower Nier gave her and starts crying because she can't figure out who it reminds her of]].%%* BreakTheCutie: ''Everybody''. But especially Emil.* BreakingTheFourthWall: ** The Forest of Myth has a large amount of this. There's also a moment in a NewGamePlus, when Gideon gives you the sword (which, in an NG+, you already have, causing Nier to wonder if they didn't have it already and Weiss to tell him to just go along with it since that's how things go the second time around).** Ending D has a truly impressive example. [[spoiler:In order to save Kainé's life, Nier sacrifices his very existence, meaning [[RetGone it will be like he never existed]]. You then get to watch as your save file is completely erased.]]* BribingYourWayToVictory: The DLC area is the best place to obtain several of the rarer materials. * BrokenBridge: A literal one. Shortly into your adventure, Popola asks you to get rid of the Shades interfering with the construction of a bridge in the Northern Plains. Doing so will give you access to the north-eastern half of the plains and let you advance the plot.* BulletHell: A rare appearance for this in a game that isn't a Shoot-em-Up, but rather a beat 'em up game. Fortunately Nier is able to slash the magic bullets to destroy them and restore his own magic power as a bonus.* ButThouMust: Thou ''must'' enter a pact with Grimoire Weiss at the Lost Shrine, at the beginning of the game. Otherwise, the game will continue to spawn more and more Shades for you to fight until you either die or accept the pact.** At the end of the first part of the game you must choose to either [[spoiler:have Emil petrify Kainé to seal the door and the monster behind it]], or just give up and perish. Choosing the second option returns you back to selection.** Divine Tree asks the hero three questions. First two test how carefully the player have read the text before. The third one, however, asks the hero what is the most important thing in the world. There are three options, all three are differently corrupted versions of "Yonah".* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler:"Relapsed" Gestalts, the remnants of human souls]] that lose their memories and sentient mind and become hostile, nigh-mindless creatures that attack anything that moves.* CameraScrew: The game cannot decide if it wants to have a free camera or a fixed camera in some areas. Also, the Haunted Mansion switches to a particularly awkward ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' style camera as a ShoutOut to said game.* CharacterTitle: Though it becomes muddled a bit since there's a HelloInsertNameHere at the beginning, which means nobody ever directly addresses him.* ChargedAttack: All weapons have a charged attack resulting from holding down the melee button at some point during the combo (which results in a different animation, range, and attack vector depending on the timing). Most of them coat Nier's weapon in [[PlayingWithFire flames]], others in [[DarkIsEdgy dark]] or [[LightEmUp light]] magic, and even others in [[ShockAndAwe lightning]]. There is no point to these visual effects other than to look cool.* {{Cloudcuckooland}}: Façade, due to LoadsAndLoadsOfRules.** And the Forest of Myth, after its people get brainwashed.* ClimaxBoss: [[spoiler:Devola and Popola.]]* ClusterFBomb: Virtually the entire OpeningMonologue courtesy of Kainé.* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: ''Gestalt'' is characterised by reds and browns, and ''Replicant'' with blues and greys, to contrast the protagonists and the general theme of the game.* CombatTentacles: Wendy and to some extent the Knave of Hearts.* ConLang: The vocals on much of the soundtrack.* ConvenientQuesting: Everything Nier needs to complete his journey is conveniently located in the immediate area around his village. And while he [[TakeOurWordForIt supposedly travelled far and wide]] during the TimeSkip, it's only after he comes ''back'' to the village that he picks up the clues necessary to continue the plot.* ContinuityNod: Sleeping Beauty hints at one during its monologues.-->"Look at my memory. [[VideoGame/{{Drakengard}} A red dragon falls from the heavens]]... Ah, that memory has been lost. A shame. It was a favorite of mine..."** Also the presence of weapons which, despite having different names, are clearly from ''Drakengard''.** The weapons from the DLC, "The World Of The Recycled Vessel", rewards the player with weapons, which, besides being quite powerful, are references to [[VideoGame/{{Drakengard}} Caim]].* CoolMask: Everybody in Façade wears one.* CosmicKeystone: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Keystone.]]* CoupDeGraceCutscene: Nearly every boss fight concludes with a cutscene of Nier applying an insanely over-the-top version of one of the Sealed Verse attacks to the boss in question.** Also counts as a slight case of aversion of GameplayAndStorySegregation, since the last attack you perform on the boss that leads to the cutscene also completely fills your MP.* CrapsackWorld: It looks nice enough on the surface, but we are repeatedly informed that humanity's days are numbered and things are just winding down in general.* CreepyChild: One of the short stories also included a Shade in Seafront who takes the form of a creepy little girl.* CruelAndUnusualDeath: The boss Shades certainly tend to suffer these. Examples include getting skewered bodily on a wooden tower, ripped to shreds over and over until you can't regenerate, stabbed through the skull, half your face torn off, your throat crushed by two giant hands, and impaled from the inside-out by hundreds of spikes. Ouch.* CruelTwistEnding: Reading all the extra material only makes it worse.* CutscenePowerToTheMax: At the end (and sometimes in the middle) of a boss fight the hero strikes his enemy with a spell you do have in the gameplay, but an insanely stronger version. Normal Dark Hands lets you pummel the enemies with magical fists larger than a human body, cutscene version crumples a monster larger than a building in its palms.* CycleOfRevenge: The wolves and the people of Façade are locked in this, especially once [[spoiler:the Masked Men slaughter all the pups in the den and the wolves kill Fyra in retaliation]]. After these events, even Weiss warns the vengeance-obsessed King not to enter a battle he can't win.* DarkAndTroubledPast: Kainé, Emil, Weiss, Fyra, Nier and Yonah to some extent.** Hell, even the fisherman who gives you the Fisherman's Gambit quests qualifies.* DarkerAndEdgier: The western version is normally portrayed as this in trailers, with less emphasis on the plot and more on the fighting style and gore, plus a much grittier, more ruthless protagonist.* DarkReprise: During the endgame, the final battle with [[spoiler:the Twins]] is scored with a dramatic, high-tempo version of their theme, "[[spoiler:Song of the Ancients (Fate)]]". They also each have their own different version of the theme, including a down-tempo variation called "Hollow Dreams".* DaylightHorror: Shades are weak to sunlight, and in the world of ''[=NieR=]'' it is always daytime, however as they grow more powerful they are merely limited to shadowy areas, and once they start wearing armor are free to roam where they wish.* DayOldLegend: Take your weapons to be upgraded and you get some backstories claiming that the weapon once caused an ancient tragedy. There's a reason for this. [[spoiler:Nier is a direct sequel to one of ''Drakengard'''s (most infuriating) endings. Most, if not all, of those weapons were Caim's.]] Not to mention that Nier and the blacksmith don't create any of the weapons. You find or buy them all, the blacksmith is just improving or restoring them.* DaysOfFuturePast: Kinda justified, since civilization essentially had to be rebuilt from scratch. [[spoiler:Especially since the now-sentient Gestalts and Replicants had to recreate culture from scratch, too.]]* DealWithTheDevil: Nier makes one with Grimoire Noir in the opening. [[spoiler:It's not a dream, it's what turns him into the Shadowlord.]]* DeathIsASadThing: Every single death is treated as a significant, tragic, and often pointless occurrence. Their loved ones are always shown to be deeply affected, with even nameless background characters getting a few minutes to be mourned by the main characters.* {{Deconstruction}}: As with the original ''Drakengard'' before it, ''Nier'' tears into many video game heroism tropes and turn them completely on their heads. Most notably, PapaWolf, LostTechnology, ProtagonistCenteredMorality, and DarkIsEvil. How they deconstruct them:** PapaWolf: Father Nier, in his struggles to save Yonah from death, end up giving her heavy emotional scars [[spoiler: and only make the situation with the Gestalts far worse.]]** LostTechnology: ''[=NieR=]'' is set so far in the future that almost all technology seems alien from what's currently available, [[spoiler: which is why Shades/Gestalts and Replicants sound like magic.]]** ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Nier, while certainly likeable and sympathetic does some horrible acts over the course of the game, [[spoiler: almost all of which (killing the Gestalts) he isn't even aware of. It's because he doesn't understand the Shades that these tragedies occur, and what makes route B so much more painful.]]** DarkIsEvil: [[spoiler: The creepy Shades]] [[DarkIsNotEvil are not actually evil,]] but due to the behavior and appearance of the Shades, everyone assumes they are.* DeliberatelyMonochrome: In Emil's mansion, the moment you walk past the entrance gate all color fades away, aside from the characters themselves.* DepopulationBomb: [=WCS=] -- White Chlorination Syndrome. [[AllThereInTheManual A disease originating from]] [[spoiler:the world of ''Drakengard'' and brought over when Caim, Angelus, and the Grotesquerie Queen arrived in Tokyo]]. It has a near-100% mortality rate, and those who survive only exist to become [[ZombieApocalypse Legion]]. Eventually, [=WCS=] annihilated [[spoiler:all of mankind... except for the Original Gestalt, the Shadowlord]].* DestructibleProjectiles: The pink orbs.* {{Determinator}}: Past Ending A, [[spoiler:turns out P-33, the Knave of Hearts, and Goose]] are all this, fully committed to their goal and they will not stop until success or death.* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler:Apparently shortly after the events of the game, aliens suddenly start arriving]].* DidntSeeThatComing: Project Gestalt was created to [[spoiler:save humanity from the White Chlorination Syndrome, separating their souls from their bodies before these could be infected by the disease, and creating soulless Replicants to inhabit later, once the disease had vanished]]. They didn't foresee [[spoiler:Replicants gaining sentience]]...* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler:Fyra in the King's arms, Devola in Popola's arms.]] In Ending C, [[spoiler:Kainé in Nier's arms]].* DoesNotLikeShoes: No one in Façade wears shoes, which seems unwise considering they have nothing to protect their feet from the burning hot sand and stone. There's probably a rule against wearing them.%%* DoubleJump* DownerBeginning: The moment you hear the EtherealChoir, and see the snowy, abandoned city and the guy in the overcoat fighting to stay awake to protected a little girl from giant bloodthirsty shadow creatures, you ''know'' this is gonna be a pessimistic game.* DualBoss: Hansel and Gretel, the golems you fight at the shrine when you find Grimoire Weiss. Also, [[spoiler:the Twins, at the Shadowlord's Castle]]. Twice.* DubInducedPlotHole: Since ''Gestalt'' removes all of the ShipTease between Nier and Kainé, making him more than twice her age and a widower to boot, [[spoiler:the kiss]] in Ending C comes out of absolutely nowhere. * DungeonBypass: Sort of an intentional example: when you're requested to visit a dungeon on the second playthrough onwards to get some rare metal from a boss enemy, you only need to enter the said dungeon for the game to drop the said item in your inventory right at its entrance, allowing you to skip the first visit entirely.** This only works if you have the necessary item in your inventory when you enter. Otherwise you'll have to go through the dungeon again.* DwindlingParty: Depending on which option you choose, the only characters who survive until the very end are [[spoiler:Yonah and either Nier or Kainé. Ending B reveals Emil survives, but he's still out of your party after his HeroicSacrifice.]]* DysfunctionJunction** Note that this doesn't just apply to the main party. The UltimateBlacksmith is a batshit insane babbling lunatic obsessed with creating weapons of mass destruction with no regards to the consequences [[spoiler:due to the deaths of his mother and brother]]. The people of the Aerie are utter {{Jerkass}}es who refuse to give any foreigner the time of day just because ''one'' of them turned out to be a half-breed. The people of Façade are locked in a CycleOfRevenge against a wolf tribe, and neither side is clearly in the right over their conflict. The people of Seafront are in on a lie perpetuated for fifty years against the lighthouse keeper, all so they can keep her from learning that her husband had died from Black Scrawl long ago as well as forcing her to keep operating the lighthouse since nobody else knows how to.* EldritchAbomination: Most of the bosses you come across, which seem to get bigger, squishier and uglier the more you play.* EtherealChoir: "Snow In Summer", "Cold Steel Coffin", "Gods Bound by Rules" and "Shadowlord - White". Yeah, the soundtrack likes this trope.* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Young Nier, if [[DepravedHomosexual that guy from Seafront]] and [[PrecociousCrush Emil]] are anything to go by.* EverythingsBetterWithSamurai: The downloadable expansion has alternate costumes with samurai motifs.* EvilCounterpart: Grimoire Noir to Grimoire Weiss.* EvolvingTitleScreen: The game adds a white flower to the title screen after the player sees the final ending [[spoiler: which involves the main character being erased from reality, leaving behind only a Lunar Tear]]. * ExposedToTheElements: Kainé, [[{{Stripperiffic}} naturally]]. Also Father Nier, who wears little more than a shoulder guard and oversized bermuda shorts. The people of Façade ''claim'' that their simple, cone-shaped robes protect them from sandstorms and make it easier to move around the desert, but one has to question the truth of this when they're all barefoot and the robes fully expose their limbs.* {{Expy}}: The small, child-like Shades look very similar to the [[Franchise/KingdomHearts Heartless]].* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Devola and Popola,]] once Nier strays too far from their objectives. The game itself refers to them as "The Betrayers."* FacelessEye: One of the Boss Shades, Wendy, resembles a giant eyeball with tentacles.* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Most of Nier's world is based off [[FeudalFuture Medieval Europe]], however Facade seems to be influenced mainly by [[{{Mayincatec}} ancient Andean culture]] such as the Incas, particularly the clothing, architecture, and desert setting. Never mind that it's meant to be set in Japan...* FantasyGunControl: Justified. By the time the story proper takes place, firearms had long since been forgotten.* FeedItABomb: Defense System Gepetto dislikes having its own bombs tossed into its mouth. [[TacticalSuicideBoss Maybe he should stop spawning them...]]* {{Fictionary}}: The language of the people of Façade. According to ''Grimoire Nier'', it was created by shuffling hiragana around, which sometimes makes it sound like actual Japanese.* FightingYourFriend: [[spoiler:Kainé]], twice. First as a regular boss (until the battle is hijacked by a bigger threat), and then [[spoiler:at the Lost Shrine, when her fatal wounds cause her to be momentarily taken over by her inner Shade]]. And then, in Endings [[spoiler:C and D, she's completely taken over and becomes the TrueFinalBoss. You then must make a final decision concerning her fate]].* FireForgedFriends: Kainé joins Nier's group after they take down Hook together, and they earn the King's friendship after rescuing him from the temple and defeating Shahriyar.* FlowerFromTheMountaintop: The Lunar Tear, a very rare white flower than grows in high places, like The Aerie and The Lost Shrine. Rumoured to have healing powers, though this is never confirmed in-story: however, if you spend ridiculous amounts of time to actually grow your own in the garden, you'll find out that they heal you completely. Yonah goes to find one in the hopes it will make her better, which eventually leads to Weiss joining the party.* FlunkyBoss: The opening parts of the Hansel and Gretel battles, during which they fight alongside smaller Shades; Defense System Gepetto will raise elevators containing lightning-prod and magic-battery robots after its laser finger attack; Hook will cough up bomb-type Shades that just roll around and spit out magic during the second phase of the fight; Wendy will use its tentacle attack to slam down armored Shades on the platform to distract you from hitting its eye; Roc will sic his pack on you before joining the fray himself. Evidently, all of these but the first and last examples are also {{Mook Maker}}s.* FlyingBooks: The Grimoires.* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the backstory ''Red and Black'', Nier notes [[spoiler:how eerily similar Shades and humans are.]] [[spoiler:Guess what TheReveal was.]]** Nier also notes following the timeskip that [[spoiler:Popola]] doesn't appear to have aged since he first met her.** The first Shades Nier encounters after the prologue literally just stand in place. As in they don't attack you with anything. I wonder why...%%* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Nier is choleric, Kainé is sanguine, Weiss is phlegmatic and Emil is melancholic.* FullBoarAction: One of the side quests involves hunting a giant boar on the Northern Plains. After defeating it, you gain the ability to use boars as transport.* FunctionalMagic: The Sealed Verses, which fits into ''Device Magic'', as it can only be used with the assistance of a Grimoire.* FusionDance: Larger, non-humanoid Shades result from this. In a few cases, you'll [[OhCrap get to see the fusion take place]].** Also, Number 6 and Number 7 [[spoiler:Halua and Emil]] do this in order to combine their power, resulting in the latter's mind ending up in the former's nigh-invulnerable body (though it loses much of its size in the process.)[[/folder]]

[[folder: G-L]]* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: Ending D of ''[=NieR=]'' has [[spoiler:the player simulate the main's character predicament of erasing his own existence by asking the player to delete all their save data. The game actually goes through with it, and you are unable to make another file with the same name you first used.]]* GargleBlaster: Popola is too shy to sing a duet with Devola unless she's completely hammered. What sort of drink does she crave? A bizarre... concoction, which includes, among other things, ''mouse tails'' and ''lizard tails''.* GenderBlenderName: It would appear that both Hansel ''and'' Gretel are male.* GenreShift: While most of the game is a third person action adventure game ''[=NieR=]'' isn't afraid to change things up on you. Sometimes it acts like a shoot'em up, at one point it turns into an isometric action game, but the most unusual genre shift is in the Forest of Myth when [[spoiler: you enter the dream world the game suddenly becomes a text adventure.]]* GetAholdOfYourselfMan: After [[spoiler:Emil's apparent death]], Kainé beats the grieving Nier to a pulp, partly to snap him out of it and partly to vent her own emotions. According to WordOfGod, this is also where she has her [[spoiler:LoveEpiphany]].* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: If you look closely, you can see Kainé's [[NippleAndDimed areolae]] through the slits in her nightdress.* GlasgowGrin: No. 6 and No. 7 both have their mouths fixed in a toothy SlasherSmile.* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Many of the Boss Shades have these, in particular the two golems at the Lost Shrine, with the added bonus of RedEyesTakeWarning.* GoodColorsEvilColors: All the central protagonists have white/silver hair, and their Grimoire's name also means "white". In turn, they are fighting against the '''Shadow'''lord, who has black hair and whose Grimoire's name means "black".* TheGreatOffscreenWar: According to the backstory, the WCS and the infected Legion that Project Gestalt was originally designed to counter have long since faded to history. All that remains is the Shadowlord.* GreyAndGrayMorality: Especially evident during NewGamePlus playthroughs.-->'''[[spoiler: Popola]]''': You have your own motives, your own desires...-->'''[[spoiler: Devola]]''': And we have ours. I fear it really is just that simple.* GodIsEvil: [[spoiler:White Clorination Syndrome is revealed to be an ultimatum to whomever is infected by the gods. If the infectee refuses, they dissolve into calcium. If they accept, they join the Legion to destroy the world. Considering these gods are the ones from ''{{VideoGame/Drakenguard}}'', this is no surprise.]]* GoldenEnding: Inverted: [[spoiler:The easiest ending to get is (by comparison) the best ending, the one you get simply from beating the game once. As you replay, the endings becomes more and more depressing. This culminates in Nier annihilating himself as well as your save files after 3-4 playthroughs.]]* GrandTheftMe: Once Replicants started developing their own sentience and consciousness (they were supposed to be empty vessels,) being possessed by a Shade became this. Originally it actually meant that [[spoiler:a Gestalt was returning to its intended shell. Which is what happens to Gestalt Yonah and Replicant Yonah]], what Devola and Popola intended the Shadowlord to do to [[spoiler: Nier, and what the overall Project Gestalt tried to accomplish by force via Grimoire Noir and Grimoire Weiss.]]* GratuitousForeignLanguage: The songs are sung in a mixture of Gaelic, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, French and English, all with enough linguistic drift to [[SingingSimlish make it sound bizarre]] and to not interrupt cutscenes.* GuestStarPartyMember: Both Kainé and Emil before they officially join the party.* GuideDangIt: A bunch. If you're going for HundredPercentCompletion, get a guide from the start and spare yourself the pain.** Probably the meanest example happens before the PointOfNoReturn. If you reach 50% sidequest completion and talk to Devola, then she'll tell you there's no more sidequests to do. Nobody in any of the towns has a sidequest bubble above their heads, either, so you're good, right? Noooo. There's one last sidequest in Seafront, found by talking to an out of the way NPC, ''leaving town'', talking to him again, and repeating until he coughs up a FetchQuest.* HappilyEverBefore: This is technically what the A ending counts as: it cuts away from the rest of the ending right before everything goes to hell and moves onto a previously unseen flashback with Nier and Yonah lying happily in the grass before any of the game's events took place.* HauntedHouse: The mansion where Emil lives looks like a stereotypical version of this, being dilapidated and mostly empty with a huge CreepyBasement, disembodied screams, rooms infested with Shades, a courtyard with [[TakenForGranite human-looking statues]], paintings that switch places when you're not looking etc. etc. The whole stage also has a very creepy soundtrack.* HealthcareMotivation: Nier (particularly the younger version) has been through hell and back in the past to get Yonah her medicine. Even though he knows the Black Scrawl is terminal. * HeartbrokenBadass: Kainé still mourns the loss of her grandmother, and is one of ''many'' the reasons why she kills Shades.* HeelFaceTurn: In endings C and D, [[spoiler:Tyrann actually helps Nier in defeating Kainé after she loses control of her body. Heck, both of the options he gives to Nier in saving Kainé's life only screw HIM over.]]** The second choice also affects the PLAYER by giving a whole new meaning to HeroicSacrifice. Make a backup if you intend to go this route, because it will delete all your save files. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwM-A7okQxw Seriously.]]* HellIsComingWithMe: Emil comes to warn [[spoiler:Nier at the latter's village]] moments before it's invaded by Shades and [[spoiler:the Knave of Hearts]]. A Man of the Mask in Facade comes to warn "the wolves are coming" during [[spoiler:the King and Fyra's wedding]]. Both are too late to make any difference.* {{Hermaphrodite}}: Kainé. The English version is more ambiguous about this, but it can be found in Kainé's diary after beating the game once and in [[AllThereInTheManual some Japan-only supplementary material]].* HeroicSacrifice: The Masked King. And [[spoiler:Emil. And Weiss. Hell, even [[TheHeroDies Nier]].]]* HeroesPreferSwords: You don't get lances until after the timeskip. Aside from that, all your weapons are swords.* HeWillNotCrySoICryForHim: Nier for Kainé and Emil, although he doesn't actually cry, just feels terribly guilty for their unfair treatment by the villagers and how they accept it without protest.* HiddenElfVillage: The Aerie is a town full of xenophobes who are too terrified to leave their houses for fear of either Shades or just outsiders in general.* HighPressureBlood combined with OverdrawnAtTheBloodbank: Even getting kicked by a sheep will make what appears to be half the blood in your body gush spectacularly over the surrounding area. And this is nothing compared to the rivers of blood that pour forth from any boss shades you defeat (which tend to be killed in pretty grisly ways).* HoldTheLine: [[spoiler:The men of Facade]] seal themselves in a room with the immortal Goose to prevent it from chasing Nier's party. In the post-Ending A paths, it's revealed that [[spoiler:many sentient Shades, particularly in the Lost Shrine and the Shadowlord's Castle, were attempting this ''against'' Nier]].* HopeSpot: The same infobook that reveals the below NiceJobBreakingItHero also says that even with that, there's still a small sliver of hope in ending D that mankind isn't completely screwed.%%* HumanitysWake: Almost.* HumanoidAbomination: ''Everyone.'' Except [[spoiler:the Twins]]. [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Who are robots]].* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Played with. In the Ending B path, the player discovers that [[spoiler:not only are the "humans" mere sentient replicas of the true human beings, but that the latter have been reduced to Shades -- which the Replicants have no problems slaughtering with prejudice. Taken to a vicious extreme in Kalil's backstory]].* HyperspaceArsenal: While Nier's carrying around stacks of documents and letters, a grocery store's worth of healing items, seeds, fruits, and potions, and a veritable museum of key items ''somewhere'' on his person is not too surprising, his carrying dozens of weapons larger and heavier than ''himself'' probably is. Especially with weapons like Iron Will and Fool's Lament hiding somewhere in his pockets.* IdleAnimation: Nier takes a rather relaxed seat on the ground.* ImCryingButIDontKnowWhy: Kainé when she wakes up in [[spoiler:Ending D, after Nier has been erased, and finds the Lunar Tear he gave her]].* {{Immortality}}: Humanity's Project Gestalt attempted TheAgeless combined with ResurrectiveImmortality, as separating body from soul results in Gestalts who cannot die unless they are killed or "relapse" into [[spoiler:Shades.]] Due to their origins and extremely long lives, it's possible [[spoiler:Devola and Popola, as well as Number 6 and Number 7]], were given TheAgeless.* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: The game is fond of this.** Roc, the wolf Shade, in an awesome moment for the King of Facade.** Again, the King of Facade [[spoiler:when he drives his spear into the nigh-invulnerable boar Goose's skull and finally kills it]].** [[spoiler:Nier]], ''twice'' in the same scene from Grimoire Noir's BloodMagic spikes, first through the shoulder from behind and then as an near-fatal attack to [[TakingTheBullet defend Weiss]].** [[spoiler:Kainé]], courtesy of Gretel's pike when he deflects Nier's magic and the weapon goes flying. It heals almost immediately [[spoiler:since she's a Gestalt.]]*** Again in Ending C, where [[spoiler:she is impaled on Nier's sword.]] Though in this case it was with the best intentions.** Any CoupDeGraceCutscene involving Dark Lance. And, during gameplay, finishing off Shades with Dark Execution (which causes spears to shoot up from the ground) will lift the Shades off the ground and leave them hanging there from the spears until the magic fades.* ImpassableDesert: Played with. The desert is difficult to get through without being attacked by wolves or stung by [[GoddamnBats hidden poisonous scorpions]], and some parts are only accessible when Fyra is with you.* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Yonah has one.* InfoDump: Most of the information on Kainé's backstory seems to be from a bunch of text dumps in the second playthrough onwards.* InsistentTerminology: You shall refer to the great book Grimoire Weiss by his ''full'' and ''proper'' name!* InstantRunes: A primary element of the game's style. Everyone's magic has it, and the Black Scrawl even makes them appear on your skin. They're also remarkably detailed and complex; try taking in all the interlocking spinning symbols present in Kainé's electroball attack.* InterfaceSpoiler: Surprisingly averted; until you get Weiss, a vast portion of the menu doesn't even exist.* InterfaceScrew: [[spoiler:The Forest of Myth]] sucks the hero and Weiss into a text adventure. It's not just interface: the characters actually experience existence in a world of words, and complain about how hard it is to endure.* ItCanThink: Shades learn to wear armor and lure you into ambushes as the plot advances. It becomes increasingly hard to deny that they are sentient beings.* ItemCrafting: Nier's weapons get stronger (and sometimes their weight changes) by being reforged at the Two Brothers Weapon Shop. In the case of the ''Drakengard''-derived weapons, their appearance also changes.* ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure: To try and get rid of the White Chlorination Syndrome, [[spoiler:Tokyo was walled off and then had a nuke dropped on it by the USA.]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Which, since the disease was magical in nature, only succeeded in spreading it worldwide]].* {{Jerkass}}: The people of the Aerie triumph ''by far''.* TheJuggernaut: The Knave Of Hearts, which attacked Nier's village, and Goose, the boar Shade that will absolutely ''not stop'' in its pursuit. Both are the accumulation of countless Shades, have a HealingFactor that makes them NighInvulnerable, and possess [[{{Determinator}} endless vitality]].* KickTheSonOfABitch: The destruction of [[spoiler: the Aerie]] is nothing short of karmic. Especially as the denizens could've prevented it if they had simply [[spoiler:allowed foreigners to help them]] instead of being a bunch of bitter, selfish shut-ins.* KillEmAll: The creators pretty much admit to it in one interview, saying that everyone is going to die sooner or later, and your actions in the game were all for nothing.* KissingDiscretionShot: When [[spoiler:Nier]] kisses [[spoiler:Kainé]] in Ending C, the camera moves away just before their lips meet. Due to the [[LastKiss situation]], this makes it ''more'' emotional.* LampshadeHanging: Weiss comments that it was [[spoiler:a bit too easy collecting the pieces to the Keystone]]. Almost as if someone set them on the right path...* {{Leitmotif}}: ** "Ashes of Dreams" has four variations (one for each ending,) and it shows up everywhere throughout the game in the form of "Dispossession" and "Yonah" -- which ''also'' have four variations each.** An orchestral version of it called "Dance of the Evanescent" also plays in the Shadowlord's Castle.* LoadsAndLoadsOfRules: Facade, which has over 1,000,000 rules (and they're still coming up with more). As a result, Facade is a maze of stairs, everyone has to wear a mask at all times, one is only allowed to buy items there after seeing the entire village from a sandboat and so on. Their holy site, the Barren Temple, operates on this premise as well, with each room forbidding a specific action (such as guarding, running, using magic, using weapons, and so on.)* LoadsAndLoadsOfSidequests: The game can be finished in 15 hours (there's even an achievement for it) but can take over seventy if you do the sidequests, ''especially'' if you want to max out all your weapons which requires a massive amount of item farming.* LonelyPianoPiece: Yonah's theme has a variation like this.* LostTechnology: The Scrap Heap and the mines beneath it are full of this.* LoveHurts: There is not a single successful romantic relationship in the game. Either it's unrequited, abusive, or one or both of the lovers expire before anything serious can come of it.* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:Nier]], although he doesn't realize it until the end. [[spoiler:Kainé]] to a lesser extent.[[/folder]]

[[folder: M-R]]* MacGuffinDeliveryService: Nier and Grimoire Weiss are told that collecting the Sealed Verses could lead to defeating Grimoire Noir and eliminating the Black Scrawl off the face of the Earth. When they finally do, turns out that [[spoiler:it was ''exactly'' what their antagonists needed all along.]]** [[spoiler:And that it really would have led to the elimination of the Black Scrawl and the ending of what Grimoire Noir began.]]* MadnessMantra: ''[[TitleDrop Recycled Vessel]], Severance, Penance, Aberrance, Sufferance, Acceptance, Disturbance, Hindrance, Defiance, Forbearance, Intolerance, Vengeance, Repentance, Radiance, Extravagance, Malignance, Vigilance, Obeisance, Dominance, Allegiance, Resistance, Discordance, Petulance, Misguidance, Deliverance...''* MaleGaze: [[http://rpgland.com/content/media/2009/12/replicant01.jpg Yeah.]] Not that it isn't a nice butt, but..* MagicFromTechnology: Or, more accurately, Magic From Another World That Led To Countless Technological And Scientific Breakthroughs Which In Turn Use And Produce Even More Advanced Magic. Even the Junkheap's robots and security systems use the exact same magic that Grimoires and Shades [[spoiler:and the Twins]] use.* MamaBear: [[ShoutOutThemeNaming Mother Goose]]. And when we say she goes MamaBear, we mean [[spoiler:NighInvulnerable {{Determinator}} [[TheJuggernaut Juggernaut]] [[WhatTheHellHero who curses Nier and the King of Facade in rage for destroying her children's future]]]].* MeaningfulName: Kainé means "broken sound", and Tyrann means "tyrant". Emil is named after the younger of Creator/TheBrothersGrimm, and Yonah after the biblical Jonah. Nier is a little more ambiguous, though the director mentions something about his body being "near" to his soul.** Not sure if this was done on purpose but "nier" means "to deny" in French.* MegaCorp: The [[MeaningfulName Hamelin]] Organisation, who try and dragoon refugees into working with them in project Gestalt against the Legion.* MercyKill: In one ending, Nier is forced to kill [[spoiler:Kainé]] to prevent [[spoiler:her]] becoming a complete Shade. Additionally, [[spoiler: killing the BigBad is unintentionally this to humanity as a whole, since it was going unavoidably extinct painfully slowly, and killing the BigBad makes it a short-term thing rather than centuries of slow decay]].* MoodDissonance: The ending credits music. [[spoiler:While endings A and B are mostly optimistic, the lyrics that are sung for the credits song are pretty nihilistic. To paraphrase it: "things might be fine for now but it's all meaningless because of what we've already lost and the inevitable return of danger".]]** This was the whole point of the game, essentially. Nier fights to protect those he loves because life and family are made all the more precious due to not knowing when the world will end and you'll lose everything. You need to make the most of what you have while it lasts. Particularly since [[spoiler:they're still doomed to extinction.]]* MoodWhiplash: TheStinger of Ending B, which, after the PlayerPunch that is [[spoiler:seeing original (Gestalt) Nier finally die together with his Yonah]], has the nerve to be pretty damn [[spoiler:hilarious]].** Though considering that you've just experienced [[spoiler:Kainé's DarkAndTroubledPast, the TearJerker backstory of each boss Shade, the absolute destruction of the Aerie, the betrayal of Popola and Devola, [[KillEmAll their deaths, and the deaths of Fyra, Emil, the King, his Advisor, the Men of the Mask, and Weiss]],]] this is a welcome whiplash.*** An opposite version of this are the alternate loading screens that show up in preset points of the game which might also count as a minor version of SurpriseCreepy considering the overall tone of the game: when you're used to seeing Yonah's diary entries, a [[spoiler: black-and-white page talking about severe military casualities]] comes off as a surprise when you first see it even if you were expecting something like that based on the intro of the game.* MultipleEndings: There are four of them.* MultiTrackDrifting: ...with ''boars''. And it is ''[[RuleOfCool awesome]].''* MythologyGag: A good number of weapons from ''Drakengard'', almost all of which have had their names changed, make a return. Why? WordOfGod says [[spoiler:they went flying and were scattered when Caim and Angelus were hit by the missile that killed them during ''Drakengard'''s Ending E.]]* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "Shadowlord", "The Black Book".* NerfArm: Nier starts off the game by taking on a huge army of Shades armed only with a metal pipe. It's just as effective as any of his low-level swords. [[spoiler: When you replay the scene later after finishing a sidequest, you can find it in a box in the area: it turns out to be a LethalJokeWeapon and the strongest 1-handed sword in the game.]]* NiceJobBreakingItHero: WordOfGod confirms that, no matter which ending you get, [[spoiler:your actions have doomed both Gestalts and Replicants, turning the world into an empty, rotting husk. Nice going!]] The existence of a sequel rather [[LyingCreator casts doubt on this claim]], though.** Also the backstory revealed that in an attempt to wipe out the disease afflicting humanity, [[spoiler:Tokyo and everybody in it was nuked]], which only served to spread the particles further abroad.* NighInvulnerable: The Knave of Hearts and Goose, being made up of lots and lots of Shades. Also, [[spoiler:Number 7,]] who can survive blowing up and being reduced to just a head rolling cheerfully in the desert.* NoHeroDiscount: In all fairness, Nier ''isn't'' out to save the world, just his daughter[=/=]sister, and he gets legitimate payment for running errands for the villagers. However, after saving the son of one particular shopkeeper, she ''will'' give Nier a lifelong discount at her store.* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Several boss fights, but the most notable is the rematch with [[spoiler:Jack of Hearts]].* NotQuiteDead: P-33 "Beepy" is revealed to have survived and rebuilt himself in the story ''Fires of Prometheus''.* NoNameGiven: [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep The Masked King]]. Interesting, since he is considered a major character in the story while several of the more minor characters are named.** Although in ''Grimoire Nier'', the King and many minor characters not identified in-game are given names.* NotSoDifferent: A man who will do anything, even at the cost of his own soul, and even if it means ''damning the world'', for the sake of the person most precious to him. Now, are we talking about [[spoiler:Original Nier aka the Shadowlord, or Replicant Nier]]?* OffscreenTeleportation: By the time Nier and his party make it into the Shadowlord's castle, [[spoiler:the Twins are already there, even though he had last seen them at the village and it's a ''very'' long road to the castle]]. He expresses no small surprise at this, until the ensuing battle reveals they have VillainTeleportation...* OhCrap: Kainé spends considerable effort kicking down a door, and feels pretty good about herself when she does... until she sees that the room beyond is packed floor-to-ceiling with "bomb" [[spoiler:infant]]-type Shades. She barely has time to say these words before she's bowled over and knocked unconscious.* OminousLatinChanting: "Blu-Bird" and "The Dark Colossus Destroys All".* OnlyOneName: The entire cast.* OpeningMonologue: One of the most unique in recent history.-->'''Kainé''': "Weiss, you dumbass! Start making sense you rotten book, or you're gonna be sorry! Maybe I'll rip your pages out one-by-one, or maybe I'll put you in the Goddamn furnace! How can someone with such a big, smart brain get hypnotized like a little bitch huh?! Oh, Shadowlord! I love you Shadowlord! Come over here and give Weiss a big sloppy kiss, Shadowlord! Now pull your head out of your Goddamn ass and [[PrecisionFStrike START FUCKING HELPING US]]!"* OrcusOnHisThrone: The Shadowlord [[spoiler:was willing to wait for 1300 years, believing in Project Gestalt's promise that it would one day restore his Yonah to him. When he finally loses patience and does something about it, he kidnaps Replicant Yonah so that his sister/daughter's Gestalt may inhabit her... and then goes back to doing nothing, even as Nier keeps killing his guardians and comes ever closer to him, because he had what he wanted]].* ParentalAbandonment: Virtually ''all'' the characters have this to some degree.* PermanentlyMissableContent: Many quests from the first half of the game become inaccessible after the TimeSkip -- which is reasonable enough, since who would wait five years for his mutton to be delivered? If you accept these quests but fail to complete them before that deadline, they will be placed in a special section of your menu for quests that can no longer be completed. And since NewGamePlus places you ''after'' the TimeSkip, it means you'll have to start a whole new game in order to finish these quests.* PinballScoring: Applies to your stats, most notably your HP: you start with 100 HP on lv 1 and end up with 400k+ HP on lv 99. Granted, it's not like you'll ever really notice it since the only place where it's shown in numerical form is the status screen and your HP bar extends very little with each level up, with the lv 99 bar only being maybe 2 or 3 times the lenght of a lv 1 bar despite the actual difference of their contents being over 4000 times larger.* ThePlague: Both the White Chlorination Syndrome, which caused TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt in the backstory, and the Black Scrawl in current times.* PlanetOfHats: Or City of Masks, anyway. The people of Facade must all wear masks, and their "hat" is that there are an incredible number of rules that govern their daily life. In Nier and Weiss' opinion, these rules often have no apparent function other than to make life frustrating; in the opinion of the people of Facade, these rules exist "so that you may know your freedoms."* PlayingThePlayer: On NewGamePlus subsequent playthroughs. Not only you can understand boss banter [[spoiler: and it becomes clear they are not there to stop your progression (well, they are, in the sense that the Shadow Lord is using them as cannon fodder, but that's not their own personal reason), they attack you because ''you entered their home and are slaughtering their loved ones'']] but collecting all weapons and going through all the endings will end with [[spoiler:your save files be erased.]] Also sidequests in general mock the player with NPC's calling you that idiot who'll do anything for cash and one even gives zero reward.* PoorCommunicationKills: A ''lot'' could have been avoided if more humans understood the Shade language. [[spoiler: Devola and Popola]] in particular were in a very good position to inform people of what was actually going on, but for some reason did not do so.* PointOfNoReturn:** Played straight with the first half of the game. After you complete it, any unfinished sidequests are [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost]] not just for this playthrough, but in the following NewGamePlus, too.** Subverted at the end of TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. When you enter the door, the game warns you that you can't go back. However, shortly after that you meet [[spoiler:Popola and Devola]] who ask if you could just turn around and go back to the Village. While this looks like a ButThouMust moment, you can do exactly that: instead of fighting, go back and return later. After that, it's played straight: when you start fighting, there's no going back.* PrecisionFStrike: [[spoiler:Devola]] delivers one during TheReveal, emphasized by voice acting: "(Laugh) Yeah, sometimes truth can be a real '''bitch'''".* ThePowerOfFriendship: What stops [[spoiler:Weiss from merging with Grimoire Noir.]] Also invoked by [[spoiler:Gretel the second time you fight him. It doesn't go quite as well...]]* PromotionToParent: Jakob with Gideon, and 'Brother' Nier with Yonah.* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: One of the sidequests also deals with a runaway boy from Facade who thinks of himself as this.* RagnarokProofing: Although the landscape is littered with remains of what seems to be a railroad track, the entire military facility known as "the Junkheap" operates perfectly, from the cargo lines to the defense systems to the autonomous robots to the elevators and even the ''lighting''. Also, the Weapons Research Laboratory [[spoiler:beneath Emil's Mansion (and the Mansion itself)]] is in pristine condition despite being well over 1300 years old.* RainOfSomethingUnusual: In the modern-day prologue salt, not snow is falling from the sky.* RandomNumberGod: Many of the items required for upgrading weapons and for the side quests are rare spawns and/or drops from monsters. Expect to spend much time cursing until the game finally coughs up the items you need.* RedEyesTakeWarning: A special kind of WCS Legion known as Red Eye are not only extremely violent, but also fully sentient, allowing them to organise other Legion into armies.* TheReveal: Turns out [[spoiler:the Shades]] are the real humans.* {{Revenge}}: [[spoiler:Gideon]] goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge because he insists (erroneously) that Shades killed [[spoiler:[[YouKilledMyFather his brother]]]]. In the process, he [[HeWhoFightsMonsters goes insane with bloodlust]], claiming that he will [[RevengeBeforeReason do nothing but]] [[spoiler:"make weapons, killing machines!"]]** Kainé seeks revenge on Hook, the giant lizard Shade who sadistically killed her grandmother and very nearly killed her, too.* RobotBuddy: P-33 Military defense robot, also known as Beepy, with [[spoiler: the child-like shade.]]* RousseauWasRight: On your first NG+ we find out that all of the conflict stems completely from misunderstandings, as we are shown the enemies' perspective and/or background behind the situations and conflicts that arise. There are one or two times when the boss fight is only just the boss protecting themselves from your relentless bloodlust.* RecurringRiff: The theme of the [[spoiler:Grotesquerie Queen]] from ''Drakengard'' returns as the underlying melody to most songs in the game.** [[spoiler:Inuart's song from ''Drakengard 2'', aka "Fate", is the "Song of the Ancients".]]* RunningGag: Weiss scaring fish away by being a LargeHam, much to Nier's annoyance.[[/folder]]

[[folder: S-Z]]* SandIsWater: In Façade it is, anyway.* SavageWolves: The desert wolves are massive and extremely dangerous. The Shade that leads them, Roc, in particular.* SceneryPorn: Some of the stages (like Seafront, The Aerie and the Forest of Myth) are made in stunning detail and very pretty. Most of the others, like the Forbidden Shrine, fall into SceneryGorn.* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Fyra went on to save the prince despite the rules forbidding her. * SealedEvilInACan: The [[spoiler:Jack of Hearts]] becomes one, when Nier can't truly kill it, and they have to instead seal it in the basement of [[spoiler:the library]] by [[spoiler:having Emil petrify Kainé in front of the only exit]]. Eventually, [[spoiler:five years later]], they unseal the beast when Nier is finally powerful enough to crush it.* SequentialBoss: At least half, or more, of the bosses, including the FinalBoss. Special mention goes to the Defense System Geppetto, Hook, the Knave of Hearts, and Wendy.* ShoutOut: Several, but a notable one to the 3D ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Legend of Zelda]]'' games all throughout the Barren Temple.** The whole game is fraught with 'Drakengard'' references.** Apparently, the scene where [[spoiler:the Men of Façade]] pull a BigDamnHeroes is based on "[[Manga/{{Bleach}} a certain manga where Death Gods fight with swords]]".** ''Grimoire Nier'' also has some short stories, two of which are named "Literature/AndThenThereWereNone" and "Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays" among others.*** ''Grimoire Nier'''s timeline of events also reveals that the pilot who shot down Caim and Angelus in ''Drakengard'' Ending E had the callsign [[VideoGame/AceCombat "Scarface"]]. ** Emil's mansion, which includes an underground weapons research facility, weird fixed camera angles and giant spiders not found anywhere else. ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' anyone?** The first major bosses of the game, Hansel and Gretel, resemble [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Gunmen]]. Nier even kills them with a rather Giga Drill Breaker-like Dark Lance.** The dream sequences with the tree Sleeping Beauty are similar to that of Thousand Years of Time stories in ''VideoGame/LostOdyssey'* SpannerInTheWorks: Weiss refusing to join force with Noir was a setback but [[spoiler: the king of Facade saving the group from Goose destroyed the whole thing.]]* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Debol/Devola and Popol/Popola. Vier/Fyra, Cleo/Kalil and Curly/Kali also run into this issue.* SphereOfDestruction: The result of [[spoiler:Emil]] unleashing [[spoiler:his]] power as "the Ultimate Weapon." It even leaves a perfect sphere-shaped void in its wake.* SphereOfPower: Mage-type Shades will empower themselves and their allies with support magic that has this visual effect. They (and the Grimoire) can also surround themselves with spherical shields that make them impervious to magic or physical attacks.* SpoilerOpening: The opening cinematic (after Kainé's profanity laced rant) reveals, among other things, [[spoiler:Weiss's connection with the Shadowlord, Kainé's half-Shade nature, Fyra's death, and the Twins' betrayal.]] * {{Stripperiffic}}: Kainé is wearing little more than a skimpy nightdress, [[CombatStilettos high heels]], and some [[BandageBabe bandages]].** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] during younger Nier's first meeting with her.-->'''Nier''': "Why is that woman going around in her underwear?!"* SuperDrowningSkills: Nier drowns in any water deeper than his ankles. He'll lose a bit of health (unless he's in a town) and wash up somewhere nearby for his troubles. Explained in that none of the villagers know how to swim, since they are forbidden from coming into contact with the precious water resources.* TakeYourTime: While fishing for the Shaman Fish which will ease Yonah's pain, you can go do the a part of the Fisherman's Gambit quest which will put you on a boat for ''two months''.* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:Popola]] attempts this on the group, but [[spoiler:Nier and Kainé escape thanks to Emil's HeroicSacrifice]]. [[spoiler:The boar Shade Goose]] has a better go at it.* ATasteOfPower: During the game's prologue, you make a pact with a Grimoire and slowly unleash each one of the Sealed Verses in sequence. Not only will you level up abnormally fast (typically ending up in the 30s by the time the miniboss arrives) but the charge time for your magic attacks is decreased tremendously, allowing you to use the complete forms of Dark Execution or Dark Hand after only a few seconds of charging.* TerribleTicking: If you start hearing bells ringing in your ears, it's a sign you're going insane from WCS and will soon turn into Legion.** [[ApocalypticLog I c a n]] ''[[ApocalypticLog h e a r]]'' [[ApocalypticLog s o u n d s]]* ThemeAndVariationsSoundtrack: Over half the soundtrack consists of variations of earlier themes, with a subtitle tacked at the end. Surprisingly, these variations are different enough to stand out on their own, enhancing the overall quality of the soundtrack.* ThemeNaming: Of the [[ShoutOutThemeNaming Shout Out]] kind. Major Shades are named after literary references to ''Literature/PeterPan'' (the Aerie's Hook and Wendy), ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'' (the Junkheap's Cleo/[[SpellMyNameWithAnS Kalil]], Defense System Geppetto, P[inocchio]-33), ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' (the Knave of Hearts), MotherGoose rhymes (Goose), "Literature/SleepingBeauty" (the codename of the Divine Tree), "Literature/HanselAndGretel" (self-explanatory), and ''Literature/ArabianNights'' (Façade's Roc and Shahriyar).** Emil, Hans, Carlo and Ursula are named after famous authors; Blue, Gideon and Jiminy after characters from ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}''.** Residents of Façade are named after German numbers.** The Grimoire are all named after [[ColourfulThemeNaming colours]].* TheseQuestionsThree: You have to answer three riddles surrounding the cause of humanity's downfall in order to enter the Shadowlord's Castle. Each answer has two options, and getting one wrong will only send you back to the entrance of the room, so there's not much at stake and their actual purpose is to clue you in on things not being what they seem due to what the correct answers are.* ThirteenIsUnlucky: The thirteen Grimoire. Only three make an appearance in the game, and only one of them is remotely benevolent.* ThreeLawsCompliant: While it may not seem it at first, it's played straight. The party is attacked by robots such as P-33 "Beepy" and androids like [[spoiler:Devola and Popola]]. However, [[spoiler:none of the party are actually human. Nier and Kainé are Replicants, and Emil is a deathless skeleton]]. The same applies to [[spoiler:the various automatons in the junk heap attacking people like Blue, as well]].* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:The Masked King]] invokes this when he dies, promising to meet with [[spoiler:Fyra]] again. Possibly [[spoiler:the Shadowlord and Yonah]] too.* TomatoInTheMirror: The human race. But Nier especially [[spoiler: when the twins tell him he is simply a vessel for his real self, the Shadowlord.]]* TragicDream: Nier's simple dream to live a healthy, happy life with Yonah leads to ''all sorts'' of questionable behaviour and heartbreaking decisions, and [[spoiler:is ultimately doomed to failure anyway]].* TragicMonster: ''Every single'' [[spoiler:''Shade'']] after watching Ending A.-->[[spoiler:'''P-33''']]:[[spoiler:"[[TearJerker Beepy...broken... Beepy...cry?]]"]]* TriumphantReprise: The wistful and melancholy "Emil (Sacrifice)" is revisited as the much more spirited "Emil (Karma)" for emotional action sequences. Likewise, "Kainé (Salvation)", a peaceful and mostly happy theme, is made into the rousing "Kainé/Escape" for appropriately inspiring effect.* TrophyRoom: And it's located across the stairs from Popola's office in the Library, filled with effigies of previously-defeated bosses. Nier and Weiss will have choice comments for each, always wondering who could have put them there.** Think too hard about it in New Game+ and you'll realize [[spoiler: it's Popola's ShrineToTheFallen.]]* TrueCompanions: Nier refers to himself, Kainé, Weiss, and Emil as this. Also a standard RagtagBunchOfMisfits.* TutorialFailure: The in-game instructions for the fishing minigame are flat-out wrong. Interestingly, the correct method is actually a lot simpler than the awful tutorial would have you believe.* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The prologue, set in 2049/53.* UnexpectedGameplayChange: And a lot of it. There are a few 2D PlatformGame sections, as well as some top-down bits reminiscent of ''Robotron''. In addition, enemy magic attacks, especially those of bosses, are straight out of a BulletHell shooter. And then there's [[spoiler:the Forest of Myth]], which involves a dreamworld [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K9Ua_c803g that's a damn ''text adventure''.]]* UnresolvedSexualTension: Nier and Kainé, particularly post-timeskip in ''Replicant''.* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Even as the people of Nier's world (and Nier himself) marvel at the thought of mankind once moving via "metal boxes on rails" (railroads,) they don't bat an eye at the highly-sophisticated robots or heavy machinery in the Junkheap. And when they finally take notice of the flying book floating right behind Nier, they take issue with [[DeadpanSnarker his manners]] rather than the flying book itself. Even more befuddling, they never seem to notice that [[spoiler:Devola and Popola never age, and have always been taking care of the village]], even when the people themselves do.* VanHelsingHateCrime: The Shades are fully sentient and were in fact [[spoiler:once human too]]. This hits full force when you're able to understand what they're saying.* VariableMix: ** In the last part of the final battle, the layers of the boss music gradually fade out as you come closer and closer to defeating [[spoiler:the Shadowlord]], eventually leaving a simple and mellow music box version of his theme.** Some towns also have variable mixes in them; in Nier's home village, the regular village theme gets vocals added to it when you get close to Devola (who is usually singing in the bar or at the fountain).** During the last flight through the Shadowlord's Castle, the vocals fade out to leave behind the high-energy music, hurrying you to your goal.** Encounters with Shades in the Lost Shrine will add percussion to the "The Incomplete Stone" track.** The haunting music heard throughout Emil's mansion won't go into its second phase until [[spoiler:Nier and Emil discover and go into the Weapons Research Lab beneath it]].* VideogameCaringPotential: The game does its best making you care for Yonah, from adorable little "Now Loading" animations, to letters to you telling you about her daily life, to her earnest efforts to cook a good meal, to her vulnerable, frail demeanour.* TheVirus: White Chlorination Syndrome. [[spoiler:Contrary to its name, the Black Scrawl isn't actually a virus.]]* VitriolicBestBuds: Nier and Grimoire Weiss, early on, until they settle into a powerful friendship. Weiss and Kainé, on the other hand, remain acerbic to each other throughout the whole game.* VoiceOfTheLegion: Larger Shades and boss Shades have this, especially those that are an agglomeration of multiple Shades. Most notably, Wendy, [[spoiler:once it sucks up all the Shades and villagers of the Aerie and they all start crying out and screaming in confusion]].%%* WasItReallyWorthIt* WasOnceAMan: [[spoiler:All the Shades.]] It's the game's main reveal.* WeatherDissonance: In the opening, it is snowing heavily. In ''summer''. [[spoiler:Though it turns out that it's actually not snow, but salt.]]* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Along with WhatMeasureIsAMook, this trope is deconstructed and subverted. Especially [[NewGamePlus after seeing Ending A]], but also during many insightful sequences in one's first playthrough.* WhatTheHellHero: After [[spoiler:the Knave of Hearts is (''finally'') defeated for good and Kainé is cured of her stone curse]], the villagers call Nier out for bringing "monsters" (referring to Kainé and Emil) to their village. At which point he then proceeds to [[UngratefulBastard call them out for ignoring the fact that the so-called "monsters" basically saved all of their lives five years ago]]. Popola reluctantly agrees to try and talk them into understanding afterwards.* WhenYouComingHomeDad: Brother!Nier and Yonah rarely saw their father, who worked in a far away city and died before returning home. Also traces of DisappearedDad. Father!Nier spends so little time at home he becomes this towards Yonah.* WhereItAllBegan: The game's plot kicks off when Nier retrieves a wayward Yonah from the Lost Shrine, meeting Grimoire Weiss for the first time. At the end of the game, the Shadowlord's Castle is accessed via a portal at the top of the Lost Shrine. Even Weiss himself comments that it feels strangely nostalgic.* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler: You, every small Shades were infant and even babies, replaying the game shows that most of those in ghe beginning weren't even fighting you.]]* YinYangBomb: Uniting Grimoire Weiss and Grimoire Noir will [[spoiler:force all Gestalts into the bodies of Replicants]].* YouAreNumberSix: You actually fight a boss called No. 6, [[spoiler:who used to be Emil's sister]]. Also, [[spoiler:Emil himself]] is actually No. 7.* YouBastard: The game had might as well change your profile name to "Asshole" for how much it uses this. For all his good intentions, Nier ends up doing some very nasty things --and while he might not be aware of them, the player definitely is.[[/folder]]----